Table of Contents

List of figures; Introduction: political change and public culture in post-1990 Nepal Michael J. Hutt and Pratyoush Onta; Part I. Rumour: 1. The Royal Palace Massacre, rumours and print media in Nepal Marie Lecomte-Tilouine; 2. The Royal Palace Massacre, conspiracy theories and Nepali street literature Michael J. Hutt; 3. Country of rumours: making sense of a Bollywood controversy Mallika Shakya; Part II. Ethnicity and Identity: 4. 'Numafung': images of Limbu culture in ethnic cinema Martin Gaenszle; 5. Janajati magazines and the contents of the subaltern counterpublic sphere during the 1990s Pratyoush Onta and Devraj Humagain; 6. Vote for Prashant Tamang: representations of an Indian idol in the Nepali print media and the retreat of multiculturalism Harsha Man Maharjan; Part III. Activist Cultures: 7. Mobilizing meanings: local cultural activism and Nepal's public culture Ingemar Grandin; 8. Protests, space and creativity: theatre as a site for the affective construction of democracy in Nepal Monica Mottin; Part IV. Gender and Resistance: 9. Heroic tales: memoirs by Maoist women Kailash Rai; 10. Motherhood containers: cantonments and media framing of female ex-combatants in Nepal's transition Seira Tamang; Part V. Heritage: 11. Publics of heritage and domestic archives among urban Nepalis of the Valley Laura Kunreuther; Contributors; Index.

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This book explores domains of the Nepali public sphere in which ideas about democracy and citizenship have been debated and contested since 1990.

About the Author

Michael Hutt is currently the Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) South Asia Institute, University of London and was appointed as the chair of the British Academy's South Asia area panel in 2014. He has been engaged in teaching and research relating to Nepal and the Himalaya at SOAS since 1987, and has authored and edited fourteen books and over forty articles and book chapters on Nepali literature, Nepali politics, the Nepali diaspora in India, Nepali art and architecture, and the Bhutanese refugee issue. In 2011 he was awarded the Nai-Derukha International Prize 'for his continuous dedication to promoting the study of Nepali literature in the international arena'. Pratyoush Onta is a Research Director at Martin Chautari, Nepal where he has worked since 1995. He has written, co-written, edited and co-edited several books including Social History of Radio Nepal (2004, in Nepali), Growing up with Radio (2005, in Nepali), Mass Media in Post-1990 Nepal (2006), Ten Years of Independent Radio: Development, Debates and the Public Interest (2008, in Nepali), 25 Years of Nepali Magazines (2013, in Nepali) and The State of History Education and Research in Nepal (2014). He is also the founding editor of the journals Studies in Nepali History and Society and Media Adhyayan.